Guns – Page 370 – Shall Not Be Questioned

OC Debate: Ride the Llama

Caleb seems to have decided to ride the Drama Llama, along with Rob Pincus, on the issue of open carry. Says Pincus:Â â€œI am vehemently against the ass-clownery of people carrying openly to make a political statement.â€Â So let the Llama come.

I would not go so far as Pincus, to suggest there is never any instance where open carrying to make a political statement is a bad idea. In fact, if the Supreme Court were to uphold carry rights in a manner that allowed New Jersey to have to pick, and it picked open carry, I’d suggest everyone should do that there, all the time. Why? Because if it’s a protected right, I believe you may be able to get people and politicians to agree to allow concealed carry in order to make the issue go away such that they no longer have to deal with it. There are plenty of instances I can think of where OC, as a political statement, can have potential benefits.

But I am in agreement with Pincus that this was not a wise move in California, and California’s legislature’s behavior was entirely predictable. Chris in Alaska suggest blaming the activists is like blaming battered women for domestic violence. Ultimately, the California legislature is the one responsible for its constitutional infringements, much like a bear is responsible for mauling you. But if you poked the bear with a stick? The bear is being a bear, and legislatures will be legislatures. We do not have the political power in California to stop anything. Even bullet buttons are now possibly on the chopping block in the Golden state, and as Joe notes, the politicians are basically telling gun owners to shut the hell up and BOHICA.

California has been pushed over the edge. It’s not coming back except through court mandate. I believe pushing OC as a political statement there was foolish, but I can’t agree that all instances of it are. As Robb notes, much depends on how you approach the issue.

Eddie Eagle

Our opponents are always cynical, and critical of the effectiveness of NRA’s Eddie Eagle program. Well, here is one instance where a kid found a gun and did the right thing. In their minds, Eddie Eagle has to be a sinister, cynical plot by the gun lobby, because if it’s not, and if it actually works, it means our side is doing more to reduce gun violence than they are.

More from Gander Mountain

From local news up in Wisconsin:

On Facebook, Gander Mountain said it has been a long-time partner with the NRA â€“ but its customers have diverse and varied interests. So the chain created a new policy that prohibits hosting events for political causes and candidates.

Political neutrality on the issue of guns and the Second Amendment is simply not an option for companies in the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry. I thought Bitter’s post on this subject hit better points than mine didÂ in this regard. Nothing in Gander’s reaction has convinced me to ever shop there again.

Dueling with Wax Bullets

In New York City, around the turn of the century, after dueling had pretty much died out, a dedicated group of eccentrics dedicated themselves to keep the craft alive. The 19th century seemed to be full of rich eccentrics. For instance, I have a bird living in my wall, a Starling, that are descendants of about 20 birds released in Central Park about by Eugene Shieffelin 120 years ago. He was Chairman of the American Acclimatization Society, and he made it a society goal to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare to the Americas. Why? And Why Shakespeare? Maybe this is what happens when you combine money, education and boredom.

“Military Grade Weapons”

The police and media in Colton, California are patting themselves on the back for getting a highly dangerous fiberglass tube off the streets. And a military grade BB gun.

MAIG Activism Funded by Taxpayers

Sean Caranna over at the blog All Nine Yards has a fantastic find about MAIG activists getting bankrolled by the City of Orlando. The person they appear to have hired is a long time gun control activist, with a history with the Brady Campaign, Florida anti-gun groups, and MAIG. The position is funded partially (the rest by taxpayers) by a granted from United Against Illegal Guns Support Fund, which is managed by John Feinblatt, who works out of Mayor Bloomberg’s office. You can find the organization’s form 990s here. The organization is a 501(c)(3). Keep in mind that if Linda Vaughn does any lobbying activity in this role, she’d be putting the tax status of this organization in jeopardy. Bloomberg is no fool, so I’m sure this is on the up and up non-profit tax wise, but it’s something to keep an eye on. Also worth noting that Bloomberg’s non-profit arm of MAIG is funded quite heavily by the Joyce Foundation.

Now, this is happening in New York already. But the big difference here is that, as rumor has it, the Second Amendment community has some sway over the Florida legislature. If positions like this are being hired to promote MAIG’s agenda, taxpayers should not be funding it. The legislature of Florida, indeed any state where this is happening, needs to step in and forbid cities from spending taxpayer dollars in this manner.

UPDATE: Going through this document some more, there are a lot of duties for this position that are not supportable under 501(c)(3) auspices.

Second Amendment Textbook Now Available

We are, of course, very pleased to hear that Firearms Law & the Second Amendment; Regulations, Rights, and Policy co-authored by Professors Nicholas Johnson, Dave Kopel, George Moscary, and Michael O’Shea, is now available. We’re also pleased to hear it’s running along side Ted Nugent’s book in popularity for the category of Gun Control. I feel that a textbook such as this is sort of just spoils of war. The big advantage to having won Heller and McDonald, through a combination of good lawyering and years of scholarly research and writings, is that future legal minds will now be molded by textbooks such as this. All law students will learn that the Second Amendment is a fundamental, individual right.

More on Stand Your Ground

Miguel notes some history of the concept, from 117 years ago, in two federal cases from 1895 and 1921. That’s right folks, there’s no duty to retreat under federal law, and that’s been the case since 1895 at least, and this duty was not unknown prior to this as well, as most western states never required such a duty, including California, which was admitted into the Union in 1850.

As a side note, I normally would not advocate debating CSGV, as opposed to pointing and laughing, since it’s about as pointless as beating your head against a wall, and about as entertaining as watching the grass grow. But you’ll note the other person involved in that conversation is a CNN legal analyst and anchor. If there’s even a chance that you can raise some doubt about CSGV’s, ahem, honesty, that’s worth beating your head against a wall for a little bit, don’t you think? She has a pretty interesting legal background. Clerked for the Chief Justice of Maryland’s Supreme Court, and worked for a bit as an AUSA in D.C.

Gander Mountain’s Opposition to Gun Owners

There’s a question over whether Gander Mountain’s position of banning NRA-ILA’s grassroots events from their property is simply an issue of not getting involved in politics. There are a few fundamental issues with viewing it through such a simple lens.

1) Gander Mountain’s business model requires the freedom to own and use firearms. They have no doubt profited off of the more than 100,000 concealed carry license holders in Wisconsin that NRA-ILA fought to promote. They will take the money of gun owners and run, laughing all the way to the bank, but they are unwilling to even allow NRA members to meet on their property to discuss the political process that leads to these kinds of changes. They are an inherently political business by the decision of what they sell and how they market.

2) An early blogger who raised the argument against NRA to Gander Mountain that they should stay out of politics is, in fact, a political blog working to defeat Scott Walker. The blogger brags that this is what he told Gander Mountain:

The eventsâ€™ focus was to train pro-walker [sic] supporters in the art of deception and propaganda in order to build support for Governor Scott Walker. … When Politiscoop contacted Gander Mountain in both Eau Claire and Wausau, Wisconsin, managers were quick to inform us that the company was unaware of what the focus of the meetings were when they were scheduled by the NRA. It wasn’t until citizens opposing Scott Walker inundated the company with phone calls and emails, demanding they cancel the event.

Really? In fact, they repost Democratic Party press releases calling for Republicans to condemn those affiliated with NRA, but provide no other points of view. That’s hardly unbiased and non-political.

3) The event that Gander Mountain banned is actually about civic engagement. Yup, that’s right. It’s not directly about Scott Walker. If you’ve ever attended a grassroots workshop hosted by NRA, then you’ll know they focus on several issues:

Registering Voters: This is especially targeted in helping hunters and gun owners register to vote.
Communicating with Other Gun Owners: This is the most political element in that it teaches NRA members who want to know how to talk to other gun owners about politics how to approach the issue and why it’s relevant to their interests.
Being an Effective Advocate for the Second Amendment: The lessons NRA members learn about different methods of reaching non-NRA members with messages about politics or the general issue of gun ownership aren’t about any specific candidate. It’s about being a generally effective communicator so gun owners can articulate to everyone from their local lawmakers to Aunt Bertha why their sport and rights are important to them.
How Elections are Won: This is a broader spectrum message that isn’t specifically cited for one race because it’s a broad message across the board. Whether it’s a right to hunt amendment or a candidate, it applies. In St. Louis, many of the details NRA-ILA staffers shared focused on why younger voters made a difference for Barack Obama’s election. That certainly isn’t a pro-Scott Walker message. That’s simply a statement of electoral trends and facts.

That’s the larger lesson plan of the event that Gander Mountain chose to ban from their facilities. In other words, the events focus on teaching gun owners how to be involved in their communities and encourage civic involvement. What I would like to know is how Gander Mountain decided that such messages were negative things.

4) The blogger mentioned above also targeted a conference center that was rented by NRA-ILA to host an event. They tried to attack the center as taking a position on the Walker election, but the conference center remained firm in noting that NRA-ILA rented the room the same way that advocates on any side of the aisle may do. They noted that their business is about renting rooms, and that’s exactly what they did.**

To me, attacking a business for even accepting business from NRA members seems to go along with a trend in trying to dehumanize political opponents. Consider a Twitter debate recently where an anti-gun advocate argued that unless you agreed with her position on details of gun control policy, you could not be considered an educated person. (I would point you to the conversation, but she blocked every pro-gun person & deleted all of the related tweets.) I asked her if she actually believed that my college degree did not count as an education despite the fact that it is from one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, and she said it did not unless I agree with her to support gun bans of her choosing. To her, I was not a person worthy of acknowledging as a potential equal simply because we did not agree on a matter of political policy.

In this case of Gander Mountain, the company is responding to a blog and activists who aren’t actually arguing for the company to stay out of politics. They are working with a group of political activists who believe that NRA members shouldn’t even be allowed to talk about political issues or even civic engagement because of our belief in the Second Amendment.
Continue reading “Gander Mountain’s Opposition to Gun Owners”

Boycott Gander Mountain

You’d think that outfits like Gander Mountain would have learned where their bread is buttered by now, but under pressure from left wing activists, they’ve given the boot to NRA, which intended to do grassroots workshops to help train activists ahead of the recall election for Governor Walker in Wisconsin.

Gander Mountain are certainly free to be cowards if they want, but we are also free to go take our hunting and shooting dollars elsewhere. I ordinarily cut companies a break for trying to be apolitical, because when policy does not directly impact your business, it’s smart business to stay out.

But hunting, shooting and outdoor companies are directly impacted by policy, and I expect them to join the fight against those who want to destroy their line of business, and destroy our constitutional rights. We should accept nothing less. Gander is certainly benefitting from the passage of the concealed carry bill that Scott Walker happily signed. Turning around and stabbing him in the back with cowardice is unacceptable and disgraceful for a company like Gander.

I would encourage every gun owner to contact Gander Mountain and express to them your outrage at their decision, and inform them that you’ll be taking your hunting and shooting dollars elsewhere until they capitulate on this matter.

UPDATE: Here’s Bitter’s take on why Gander Mountain’s ban on NRA-ILA events is really about keeping gun owners from organizing to support the Second Amendment and hunting rights.